Why hellow there my pretty young things! So... At my university, we have this huge Halloween party called 'Neewollah' and I just got back form it. It was so much FUN! I went as a zombie and volunteered in the haunted house we set up and it was great. I scared so many people. And my costume was spot on! Anyways, enough about me. You want your chapter! Although, we still have to...
TyberAurora: I hope you get your copy of BoO soon and of course I'm still here! I'm not going to abandon any story of mine.
Faulty Spell casting Demigod: Your reviews are always fun to read! And I thought I'd give you guys a little break.
the one and only anonymous: LOL! Yeah... uh... Time management? idk... I'm not really one to study in the first place since the info tends to stick whenever I sit in a lecture and pay attention so whenever I'm not doing anything, I'm writing. All you've got to do it get your work out of the way quickly (but accurately) so that you have more time to write.
dataussieguytho (Guest): That's so cool! My Australian accent is closer to the dialect in Sydney but it was pretty close to NSW's so... :)
divergenist: What kind of story would there be without a certain gain for them as well?
TigerCub98: I'm glad you stumbled upon my gem and it decided to lead you here.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Chuck as Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz are the gods of their creation and Warner Brothers hasn't put up the brand for sale.
The next morning, Annabeth woke up on something and knew instantly that it wasn't her bed. It wasn't hard but it also wasn't soft. It was…firm. But it was comfortable. It radiated heat so, despite not having a blanket on, she was warm. She shifted slightly and her bed did too, which sent her senses on high alert. That's not a bed. She sat up suddenly; her hand pushed down on what she thought was a bed.
"Oof!" it said before disappearing from under her. "Ow." Annabeth looked over what she now realized was a sofa. What she saw was a groggy Percy sprawled across the floor of his apartment.
"Oh, my god, Percy," Annabeth gasped as she got up from the sofa. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he replied, sitting up. "Did we fall asleep?"
"I guess so. It's morning." Percy's sea green eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"You don't have to be somewhere do you?" he asked. Annabeth laughed. She was touched that he put her needs first.
"No, not today. Thankfully. It's my first day off since I got back."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Percy nodded and looked down. "Uh," he began, gesturing to her outfit. "Did you want something more comfortable to wear? Or…"
"I guess I could go for a good shower," she replied. "If you don't mind, that is."
"No, go right ahead." He stood up and led Annabeth to the master bathroom. He went into the walk-in closet and grabbed a towel, a pair of boxers and sweats, and one of his old NYU shirts. "I, uh, don't have any women's underwear around but you're more than welcome to wear these if you want," he offered. Annabeth wanted to giggle at his awkwardness but she managed to keep a straight face.
"Do you have boxer briefs? Those seem to be the closest thing to comfortable since they're kind of like spandex." Percy nodded. He disappeared back into his closet with the boxers and came back out with a dark blue pair of boxer briefs.
"I'll just, uh, leave you to it then." He walked out of the bathroom, leaving Annabeth alone.
As she took her shower, Annabeth couldn't believe what she was doing. She was showering in Percy's apartment the morning after they had had a heavy make-out session and had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Just past those doors, Percy was out there, still in his rumpled suit from yesterday, his hair tousled and messy. The thought itself was enough to make goose bumps appear on her arms and a chill to run up her spine. Moving to shampoo her hair, she found that Percy, despite his oceanic scent, used regular shampoo and conditioner. He also used regular scented bars of soap. He naturally smells like the ocean? she thought. What the hell?
When she finished showering, she put on some lotion (also non-scented) and slipped on Percy's clothes. They, of course, smelled like he did. Fortunately, Percy smelled like the good ocean like the beaches in Cancun or Bora Bora and not the gross beaches of Manhattan or Galveston. Curiosity filling her, as it always did, Annabeth went through his cabinet to see if he owned after-shave or cologne that had a beach scent and came up dry. The closest thing she found was an Ocean Breeze flavored bottle of Febreze in the cabinet under the sink, though she doubted he went through and sprayed all of his clothes with it. His scent was way more natural than the stuff in that bottle.
Woah, she thought. I'm starting to sound a little stalker-ish. I should probably stop thinking about how he smells. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Annabeth ran her finger through her hair and left the bathroom to be met with a different aroma wafting through the apartment. Mmm. Bacon, her stomach sang. She followed the scent back out toward the living room and into the kitchen where Percy stood at the stove, only wearing his pants and a plain white T-shirt that totally accented his toned arms and highlighted the muscles on his back – she could only imagine what the front looked like – cooking breakfast. To put it simply, he was fricking hot. Biting her lip to keep her from voicing that thought aloud, she had to actually think of something else to say. "You cook?" she finally decided. Percy looked up quickly, jumping at her voice.
"Uh, yeah," he answered. "I learned a long time ago when it was just me and my mom. You know, anything to help around the house."
"That's sweet."
"Sure, I guess."
She walked over to the counter and propped herself on top. "Your pancakes are blue," she observed.
"Yup."
"You wanna tell me why?" Percy flipped the cake and turned to look at her.
"Back when I was a kid, my mom was in a really bad relationship with this guy. One day, they got into a pretty stupid argument over why food couldn't be blue because I'd asked for it. Since then, my mom has gone out of her way to prove him wrong – blue candy, blue tortilla chips, blue pancakes. They divorced eventually when I was twelve but blue food stuck. So, for special occasions, we always make blue pancakes for breakfast.
"And what is the special occasion today?" Annabeth asked curiously.
"Us." He stood between her legs and wrapped his arms around her waist loosely. "Today, I want to celebrate us." Annabeth tilted her head in question and Percy continued. "We never got to celebrate our return home. We just got thrown back into the real world and everything was so rushed and I just want to slow down time for a little bit and just enjoy the moment." Annabeth smiled.
"Well," she said. "We can celebrate the moment as soon as you keep the apartment from burning down." Percy's eyes went wide as he remembered his pancakes still cooking on the stove. He separated from Annabeth and went to save the blue colored flapjacks.
When he finished cooking, he led to the kitchenette where they enjoyed their breakfast. After, they were cuddled on Percy's couch, watching more episodes of Once Upon A Time. "You really like this show," Percy noted when the episode ended.
Annabeth looked up from where her head was resting on his shoulder. "I do. I'm not sure I'll be able to do anything productive until I catch up." Percy chuckled.
"I doubt that," he said. "You're Annabeth Chase. Everything you do is productive."
"Oh, whatever."
"I'm serious-"
"Okay, shh," Annabeth interrupted as the fifteen second interval between episodes reached zero and the show came back on. Annabeth saw Percy roll his eyes from the corner of her vision as they settled back to a more comfortable position. When the next episode ended, Percy paused the episode before the fifteen-second countdown began and turned to look at her. "Hey," she complained.
"I'll continue it in a second," he said. "But I have to ask you something first." They looked into each other's eyes before Percy continued. "Annabeth, ever since we got back from that deserted island, I realized something. I want you in my life. I want to share my life with you. And no, I'm not asking you to marry me, but I want to ask you to give us a chance. I want us to have a chance to really get to know about each other outside of a life or death situation. So, I guess what I'm really asking is, will you go out with me?" Annabeth could feel her heart melting through her body. She smiled.
"Yes." She watched as the black haired man's smile grew until it rivaled that of the Cheshire cat's.
"Really?" he asked.
"Do you want me to say no?"
"No! Yes! No! I mean… I just… This is just too good to be true!" Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Well, it's true. Now, can we get back to the show?" She laughed. Percy scrambled for the PS3 controller to continue to the next episode.
•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•
Percy couldn't believe how his life had made so many life-changing turns throughout the last few weeks. He'd graduated college, gotten a great job, gotten stranded on an island, and finally, gotten a great girl to spend the rest of his life with. Well, at least, a date with the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Details, shmeetails. Now, they were in his apartment, enjoying Chinese takeout while they continued their spontaneous Once Upon A Time marathon. He shook his head. What was he thinking getting her hooked to that show? At least she was relaxed and not running around, stressed, like she had her head cut off or something. At least he picked a show that he liked himself so it wasn't torture. At least they got to spend some time together without feeling like the weight of the world was resting on their shoulders. It was just the two of them sitting together, cuddled, in his apartment letting the day go by.
Annabeth shifted and placed her Chinese takeout box, now empty, on the coffee table and turned to look at him, the sparkle in her eye bright. "What?" he asked.
"I'm gonna have to go soon," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we've got a date tonight and I've got to get ready."
"Is that so?"
"It's our first date. I need to look nice. And, plus, I need to check in with the weekend staff at the office."
"You have to go to the office?"
"No, nothing like that. Just call in with Malcolm. Now that the transfer is becoming more and more real, my mom is giving me more and more responsibilities… like calling in on Saturdays."
"Alright. So, you're heading out?"
"Yup."
"What time should I pick you up?" he asked, standing up alongside Annabeth.
"I don't know. You asked me out," she smirked, gathering her dirty clothes, which were stuffed into a plastic bag.
"Okay, I'll be there at eight."
"Okay."
"I do need your address though."
"I'll text it to you."
"Then you'll need my phone number."
They exchanged phone numbers and Percy walked Annabeth all the way back to her car. Tossing the plastic bag in the back seat of her Lexus, Annabeth stood in front of Percy once more. "I'll see you tonight," she said.
"And until then…" Percy stepped forward and rested his hands on her hips, pulling her forward. When their lips connected, Percy felt Annabeth sigh in contentment. And bring her arms up to his neck. When they finally separated, he placed another kiss on her forehead and let her go, taking a step back. "Drive safe."
"Always." Annabeth got in her car and Percy watched as she backed out of the space and drove away.
Percy made his way back up to his apartment and began to clean up the living room and the kitchen. By the time he had gotten through all of the dishes and had thrown away all of the trash, he saw that three hours had flown out the window. He figured he still had some time to kill before he needed to get ready for his date.
His date.
This date was Percy's attempt at a normal relationship with one of the smartest, driven, most beautiful woman out there. He couldn't blow it. That time on the island really speed-boated their relationship and while some people might look at them and say that it was rushed and highly inappropriate for him to think that after one week he would want to spend the rest of his life with her, Percy would answer back with his head high and proud because those people don't know them or what they went through together.
This date would set the precedent for their relationship so it had to be perfect. Percy's eyes went wide. He'd realized that he asked Annabeth out on a date and had no plans whatsoever. Pulling out his phone, Percy scrambled through his contacts to see if one of his friends had any connections to get him a good seat somewhere. Finding the name he was searching for, Percy clicked on it and waited patiently for the line to be picked up.
"Ambrosia and Nectar, this is Katie speaking," a voice said on the other line.
"Katie!" Percy greeted in joy.
"Perce? Hey! What's up?" Katie Gardner, an old friend from middle school, asked. She was currently attending a culinary academy and worked at Hestia, a friend of his mother's, restaurant.
"Is, uh, Hestia there? I need to ask her for a huge favor."
"Yeah, sure. Give me one second." Percy waited on the line while Katie went to fetch the restaurant's owner. Within about a minute, the line was picked up again and another familiar voice was on the phone.
"This is Hestia. How may I help you?" it greeted.
"Hi, Hestia," Percy smiled, although the older woman couldn't see it.
"Percy? Is that you?" He could hear the smile plastered oh the older woman's face just by her voice. "To what do I owe this delightful call?"
"Uh, my date," he answered. He could practically see Hestia's eyes grow wide if the gasp was any indication.
"Percy Jackson with a date?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Oh, my. Well this is a special occasion. I'm assuming you'd like a table?"
"If it isn't too much trouble."
"Absolutely not! I'll have you reserved for the best seat in the house."
"Really?"
"Of course! Anything for Sally's little boy. Though I figure you're not a little boy anymore." Percy laughed. "What time should we be expecting you?"
"Around 8:30-ish?"
"Alright! I have you down for 8:30. I'll see you tonight, Sweet Pea."
"Thank you so much."
"Anytime."
When Percy hung up, he sighed in relief. One problem taken care of. His phone chimed. Checking his lock screen, he saw that Annabeth had texted him her address. He replied in thanks and told her that she should dress in something that was a little more formal than 'smart casual'. He may have been a guy, but growing up with his mom, Percy learned quite a few things about what the boundaries were for different dress codes.
By the time he picked out an outfit, showered, shaved, and dressed, it was time for the black haired marine biologist to pick up his blonde heiress date for their nice dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in town.
And there you go! Not much to say at the moment since it's like 2am and I'm exhausted. G'night!
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